


A Son Rises

by LittleRedH00ds



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Deadlock Gang, Other, Spanish speaking Jesse Mccree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 17:57:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13276839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRedH00ds/pseuds/LittleRedH00ds
Summary: Gabriel is in charge of the operation to stop Deadlock once and for all. But out of the carnage comes a boy from the gang with very little English and a really bad attitude to throw all Gabriel's careful planning out the window.





	A Son Rises

Gabriel stared out the narrow dirty window of the HOV. van. The vehicle was so heavily armored that not even these tiny bulletproof windows provided much light in the dark carriage. Eight Blackwatch soldiers in full combat gear sat in total silence around Gabriel as he squinted at the dark cliffs out the window. It would have barely been dawn by the time they got there. He had chosen this time specifically, just before dawn was when people out here were the least suspecting of an ambush. So lulled into a false sense of security that they’d made it through the night and that no attack would present itself until the sun was up. Gabriel had argued for this, he’d argued for ground vehicles too. Their enemies would see a drop from the air and with the weapons sighted in this area Gabriel did not want to risk that. 

He’d argued for these things even though he maybe should not have pushed so hard to get his way. 

Gabriel tugged on the chain around his neck; it was tucked under his shirts and gear so tightly. His army tags, and his wedding ring, both items on the chain were warmed by his skin, but somehow their presence felt cold to him.

Gabriel thought back to the prep sessions, the way he’d treated Jack. Both of them neck deep in their work personas. They didn’t stop to think about each other. 

Jack had spent nights in his office for the last week. Gabriel was too much of a coward to call him out on it. 

It wasn’t his fault Jack had saddled him with this job and then taken over the sting operation weeks before it was due to launch. UN weren’t happy with Gabriel’s work; they trusted his better half a lot more. Not that he really blamed anyone for that. 

He was missing Jack, dearly. The bed was cold like his wedding ring was cold. Cold like the look in Jack’s eyes when Gabriel approached him, as they were getting ready to deploy for this mission. 

Gabriel sat back in his seat. They weren’t far away and all this would be over soon. Deadlock would be over soon. 

\+ + +

There was some distant howling for the gorge as Gabriel emerged from the back of the truck. His team was positioned on the western side of the settlement. The bigger squad, Jack’s team would be engaging in a public firefight. The thought of Jack on the front line made Gabriel’s chest ache. As usual Blackwatch would be the antihero, the cruel force of justice unfairly attacking from behind. Not that this particular gang deserved much better.

Deadlock was a weapons trade operation. They usually disrupted trains, derailed them, ruined the tracks, killed anyone on board and obtained millions of dollars worth of cargo. They also engaged in human trafficking and drug trafficking on the side. 

Deadlock was well known all along Route 66, the rest of the state and country. A reputation built up over the last couple decades. They profited off fear and paranoia post omnic crisis. 

Gabriel had been working on cutting them off at the branches, by raiding outposts along the desert lines. He couldn’t forget what he’d seen, being shot at by children trained to fight, badly trained, trafficked slaves who tended to slit their own throats as soon as a raid started. Gabriel knew why he was so on edge about the whole thing, why he’d yelled at Jack and the United Nation representatives. He could only remember their eyes. Deadlock was an old organisation that profited off the young. Kids ripped from their homes, or picked up off streets early and trained to kill or serve. These kids, they knew they could not beat Blackwatch. They would often stare on in fear as they were gunned down. It was the memory of the shocked eyes of a twelve-year-old boy Gabriel had held in his arms after one of the squad had shot him in the neck, suffocating on his own blood, weakly punching Gabriel in the chin. So engrained to fight that he did it in his last breaths. 

“This is a national crisis. Potentially international crisis” The UN representative had said. But she spoke only about the lost cargos. Human life was discussed like it was a footnote. Gabriel’s orders were the same as they had always been for this final Deadlock raid. 

Kill on sight. 

Gabriel looked along the line of his team. Everyone was clipped in to ropes ready to abseil down to the roof of the Deadlock base itself. They waited patiently for Overwatch’s team to make its first attack. Any leading members of the gang would be secured inside the buildings once their presence was known, but Gabriel was prepared. Blackwatch’s spies hidden within the gang already rigged several locations on the Deadlock base with explosives. These agents were also quite young, fresh out of the military training. It made Gabriel wonder if Overwatch was any better then these traffickers at the end of the day. 

The whole operation was rushed. Gabriel been rushed since the day Jack assigned him. It was when Jack brought that urgency into their home life with him that Gabriel started to get irritable under pressure. 

It was real now. They had to be quick, before anyone in Deadlock had enough time to retaliate. If Deadlock weren’t destroyed here, a chance like this would never come up again. Gabriel knew that. 

The first explosion yanked him from his train of thought. The bar a few buildings down had blown up from the inside. Bits of plaster flew across the street and windows threw glass in every direction. This was followed by rapid gunfire.   
Gabriel signaled his team and they descended onto the roof of the main complex. People shouted watchmen tried to raise the alarm and reciprocate the assault. The Blackwatch team entered into the compound and Gabriel gave the command. 

“Open fire!” 

Gang members inside the base now alerted to the attack began to counter. Most of them didn’t even make it to the door. Gabriel’s second team moved in and they gunned down anyone from the gangways above. Unable to do much from this distance Gabriel moved further through the building. He was skilled enough to hold his own, and he found what he was looking for, a secure locked door. Gabriel blasted the locks with his shotguns and kicked the door until it gave way. This whole complex was a fortress but the inside wasn’t built to keep attackers out as well as the outside was. 

His suspicion was confirmed. Inside were four men probably the same age as Gabriel and two child soldiers. The children were hesitating, afraid. Their tiny hands quivering on their weapons. 

“SHOOT HIM!” One of the men screamed.

The little blonde girl raised her revolver and fired on Gabriel. He dodged the shot easily. Her second shot was a dud and the man behind her lashed out at her in rage. Gabriel blew his guts out with a shot before he made it to the girl’s side and dispatched the other adults just as easily. The children still didn’t fire on him again as he killed their leaders. 

Gabriel was panting as he turned to them. Nobody else from his team had joined him yet. He made his choice, and had to move fast to help these kids.

“You understand what’s happening here.” Gabriel holstered his weapons to appear friendly.

The children nodded silently. 

Gabriel crouched down in front of them and continued, “I need an exit to this building. If you want to live, you will get yourselves to the train line. Get far away.” 

The children nodded again and the girl moved to the back of the room. She came upon a shelf and tried to move it aside. 

Gabriel stood up straight and approached her. She eyed him warily as he took his place beside her and helped push. Behind the shelf was a trick door. Gabriel kicked it open. Sure enough there was a second corridor that connected to the rest of the base, and on his left was a heavy set steel door to the outside. Gabriel unlocked it and pushed it open.   
The noise on the street was deafening now that the real fight had begun. Another building had been detonated and the street was littered with bodies torn up by bullets. Gabriel signaled the children to stay behind him as they moved along the gangway built against the cliffs. The position was uncomfortably exposed, but nobody from the squads would take a shot at Gabriel.

Gabriel’s COM broke out into static. Someone addressed him through the noise. 

“Commander Reyes, position?” 

He paused before he responded. “External of the main complex. Clean up then meet with Overwatch Alpha team.” 

“Understood commander.” His COM replied. 

Gabriel led the two children past the carnage, along the streets until they reached the train line. Or where it was supposed to be from Gabriel’s memories of the maps. Gabriel looked up and sighed. The train tracks ran above them along a bridge. He pointed at the cliffs. 

“Think you can climb to that?” He asked his two companions.

The children looked at the cliff above them where the train tracks met solid ground. The girl wasted no time before she started climbing the rocks, the younger boy grasped Gabriel’s hand briefly. 

“Gracias, señor,” He whispered before he hurried after the climbing girl. 

Gabriel watched them climb and listened to his squad on his COM to make sure they were still at the kill site when suddenly the ground shook and the air above him filled with fire. A train had rolled across the track right as the bridge was detonated. This wasn’t one of his planned explosions, this was a Deadlock bomb and the result was much more catastrophic than anything that was inside the buildings. The force of the explosion flung Gabriel backwards. He scrambled up and sprinted out of the damage zone as train carriages smashed into the road around him. Bits of bent metal and fire were thrown in every direction. Part of the gorge broke away, while chunks of the train were still hanging off the remaining tracks. Nobody would have survived that. 

Gabriel looked up to see the girl holding onto the boy’s arm trying to hoist him up over the side of the cliff. Gabriel assessed his own condition, as ‘still in one piece’ and moved forward to try and help the children. Maybe he could get up there- 

Gabriel heard an angry scream before someone ploughed into his side. Still sore from the explosion he was knocked over easily. His attacker had a knee on his chest pinning him to the road. 

It was another kid, older than the two Gabe had helped to escape, but he still had the rounded face of a child, a bridge of freckles dotted over dark skin and red spots of acne on his chin. 

“¡¡PERRO ASESINO!!” 

Gabriel was looking down the barrel of a revolver as the kid yelled at him in words he didn’t understand. Gabriel then shifted his weight to try and disarm him. The angry boy didn’t know how to pin. Gabriel grabbed onto his wrist forcing his arm up as the shot went off. It was deafening but Gabriel twisted his body and knocked the kid down on the road. He stood up, gave the boy a good kick to keep him down and grabbed the gun from his hand as he coughed. 

“Stay down.” Gabriel snarled. 

The boy rolled over, still muttering as he clutched his stomach. 

Gabriel looked up to see that thankfully, neither of the children on the cliff had fallen, and had both made it up safely. He made a wave at them to keep moving before he ran off back towards the gunfight. The squads were struggling with the last fortress of Deadlock, held up inside the second floor of one of the buildings. 

Gabriel saw Jack through it all. In his bright blue duster, clutching his bloody shoulder. Gabriel lost all tact; he could only panicked as he sprinted to Jack’s side. 

“Reyes” Jack barked, injured or not he was still in ‘strike commander mode’. “Hold position with your squad.”

Gabriel grabbed his husband, pushing Jack behind himself and defending him from the firefight. “You want to talk to me like this? Alright, Morrison. You think I’m going to hold a fucking position when you’re hurt!?” 

Gabriel head Jack huff behind him, “Dammit Reyes.” Jack hissed at him.

Gabriel was about to tell him how sorry he was. It was the wrong place wrong time, he didn’t care, and he had to before it was too late. 

Suddenly there was a scream and another explosion went off. They were too close; Gabe and Jack were blown backwards, rubble came down all around them half the building hit the roadway squashing several bodies, both alive and dead. 

Gabriel’s eyes were drawn upwards. There were people on the cliff side, a lot of people. Not Overwatch or Deadlock but another gang entirely. 

“The Sixty-Six Coyotes…” Jack wheezed. “How did they know?”

Gabriel had already put it together in his head. 

“Someone fucking tipped them off.” He sneered.

Gabriel heard one of his own squad scream over the rubble. 

“IT’S A GATLING GUN IT’S A BASTION UNIT’S OLD-“ 

There was no end to the sentence as a stream of gunshots rang out over the gorge. 

Gabriel pushed Jack down against the road. Praying that the rubble would protect them both. Everyone scatted. The shooter had no preference for targets. 

The gunfire went on for what seemed like hours and when it stopped the silence was haunting. Any unharmed agents from their squad quickly rose from cover and tried to fire on the new gang, but they were already descending into the canyon. 

“Fucking vultures here to pick off the scraps from Deadlock.” Jack murmured. 

Gabriel looked down at him. Jack’s eyes were unfocused, and his shoulder was bleeding profusely through his coat. The Blackwatch commander put pressure on the wound but his gloved hands were quickly soaked in blood and his efforts were having little impact. 

He dragged Jack into better cover, a standing mechanics shop. Gabriel propped Jack up behind a counter and listened closely. He peeked over the top of the surface to make sure they were alone. If anyone came in from either gang Gabriel would shoot them down without hesitation. He was just preparing in his tactics for defending Jack when he heard a shout from outside. 

“¡MCCREE RÁPIDO!” 

Gabriel recognised the weedy frame and matted brown hair of the boy that had tried to shoot him as he stepped in front of the building the two commanders were hiding in. 

The boy, Mccree, spoke for the first time in English. Gabriel was confused by the words, and maybe the kid’s accent was so thick he heard him wrong from the hiding place. 

“It’s high noon.” Mccree said. 

There was an eerie glow around the boy’s frame he emptied the chamber of the gun he was holding, six shots. 

Gabriel almost forgot about his cover he stood up straight so he could get a better view. 

The gorge was silent but six people in front of the kid dropped to the ground. Gabriel was stunned. 

“What’s happening?” Jack said with a cough. 

Gabe shook his head in disbelief, “He got them with one chamber…” 

“Commander!” Gabe’s COM screamed. “They’ve ceased fire, they don’t want to clear the gorge!” 

“Why?” Jack wheezed and Gabriel repeated his question into his COM. 

“They want the boy on the street sir.”

“Get out there Reyes!” Jack hissed at him. 

Gabriel shook his head but Jack kicked him in the shin. “Get that kid, put him down if you have to. We aren’t handing all the weapons here off to another gang.” 

“Fine.” Gabriel’s frustrations boiled over. He hopped the counter and pulled out his shotguns, muttering. “I’ll blow his brains out, will that make you happy Morrison…”

Mccree whirled around, reloading his weapon. 

Gabriel dove behind an overturned shelf as the kid fired on him. He knew then he could not go head to head with this one, not with an aim like that. Before the boy advanced Gabriel took off running, moving from cover to cover until he was out, around the side door of the building. Now outside he noticed how many more people had come into the gorge. Deadlock was in pieces now and the rival gang was moving in for scraps. 

Gabriel spoke into his COM again, “I need an extraction for Commander Morrison, move in on his position.” 

“Copy.” Someone replied. 

“quedarse inmóvil” 

Gabriel turned his head just enough to see the boy in his peripheral vision. Gun aimed at Gabriel’s head. 

The Blackwatch commander slowly raised his hands. “Listen to me okay…” 

The boy clicked the safety and sneered. 

Gabriel clenched his fists as the gun was pressed to his temple. “English kid any of it?” 

Mccree spat back in his thick accent, “you will die here.” 

Gabriel grabbed the boy’s wrist tilting the gun away from him. The kid was so thin Gabriel lifted him off his feet and slammed him into the side of the building, pinning his arm. 

“No shooting.” He snarled.

“¡VAYA Y MUERA!” 

Mccree continued to shout at him, Gabriel was distracted by the blood trails on the kid’s face. They could have started from a head injury or a face wound but there was no wound that the dried blood appeared to have started from. The trails seemed to start under his eye. 

The boy screamed and surged forward hitting Gabriel in the chin and forcing him backwards. Gabriel grabbed his shoulders and struggled to hold him against the wall.

“I don’t want to shoot you kid…” Gabriel snarled, wrestling with the struggling boy.

“Gabe…extraction…” The feint commanding tone was Jack’s. Gabe froze; he struggled to keep the emotion out of his voice.

“Are you safe?” He asked calmly.

“I’m ordering you to get out of here Gabriel.” Jack barked, “The other gang is in the gorge now, there’s too many of them who aren’t already exhausted from this fight. You need to go.” 

“Hold on Jack, I’m coming inside to you.” 

“No Gabriel!”

Mccree shoved at Gabriel and kicked him in the legs. Gabriel let him go and he scrambled away, sprinting for freedom further down the street. Forget him. Gabriel had get Jack, Deadlock was dead…mostly. They’d done their job. These vultures weren’t Gabriel’s problem. 

But they were a problem. 

The gorge was lit with a new carnage; agents were retreating while the last bits of Deadlock were trying to defend the place. The only blessing was that the sixty-six coyotes weren’t unloading that Gatling gun on the street anymore. Most of them were down on the street now. They were crack shots and better at close combat then those of Deadlock were. Each gang member carried a nasty looking knife with a serrated edge. Once they were close they would stab the opponent, in the chest or face, often more than once. They had a focus on Deadlock and didn’t seem to target any soldiers unless they attacked first. Not that Gabriel was looking at the bodies too closely. He prayed the Overwatch and Blackwatch squads didn’t have too many casualties. 

Gabriel waited for the opportune moment to find his way back inside the building he’d left Jack in only to find it empty. He waited for a moment before speaking into his COM, “Jack, report your position.” 

There was no response. 

“Charlie team, report position.”

Nothing.

“Alpha, beta, delta anyone report.” 

Nobody replied. Either the teams were all terminated or Gabe had missed the extraction. 

Gabriel fled the scene, avoiding the last of the gang fights he scrambled to the extraction point. But found only tracks left behind by his soldiers.

“Good protocol, leave behind a senior officer… good call.” He muttered to himself.

At the far end of the gorge were a number of vehicles from the new gang. Gabriel snuck across the terrain. There were a few members of the sixty-six coyotes guarding the convoy. Gabriel approached the truck at the far end of the trope, an old tray HOV driver. Covered in desert dust from years of use out here. One man was standing beside it. He was easy to disable Gabriel crept up behind him, pulled him onto the ground and choked him until he passed out. Others turned towards the noise, shouting. Gabriel leapt into the driver’s seat of the truck and started it. He heard a couple gunshots hit the car and hit the gas, making a sharp turn and driving off into the desert. Gabriel kept one eye on the rear-vision mirror for the first ten minutes. The Sixty-six Coyotes wasn’t rushing to come after him. Probably because there was nothing out here, or the car itself wasn’t worth a chase. 

Gabriel started to relax as he continued to drive in silence. Nobody on COM was responding but with the truck he was confident he could make it back to the pick-up zone where hopefully the Overwatch and Blackwatch teams would be waiting. They would give him a little bit of time to try coming back. 

“Unless they think I’m dead,” Gabriel grumbled to himself. 

There was a shuffle in the backseat and Gabriel grabbed one of his guns, putting the breaks on and stopping the car. 

“Come out.” He snapped to his stowaway. 

A tarp was tossed back and up popped Mccree with his revolver. He stared at Gabriel wild-eyed before his gaze narrowed. “Eres tú…”

“Fucking hell.” Gabriel kept the shotgun raised. The kid hadn’t lowered his revolver yet. “Listen, no shooting okay, no-“ 

The boy yelled forcing Gabriel’s hand away and launching forward. He pushed Gabriel down against the steering wheel. The horn blared loud and obnoxiously under Gabe’s head and his foot was pressed onto the accelerator by accident. The HOV truck lurched back into life, speeding forward. Gabriel struggled to steer with the boy practically on top of him. 

“¡Hijo de puta! Eres-“

Gabriel shoved the kid roughly sending him tumbling backwards into the passenger seat, his legs hitting the window. 

“I can’t fucking understand you don’t you get that!” 

A foot connected with Gabriel’s shoulder and he yelled as he was kicked repeatedly. 

“A MURDERER! YOU MURDERER!” The boy screamed as Gabriel managed to grab one of his legs. 

“Takes one to know one kid.” Gabriel tried to block with his elbow but the boy kicked him hard in the ribs. The vehicle swerved left and Gabriel coughed struggling to keep control. 

“Stop it you’re going to get us killed!” he yelled. His head turned as the boy was sitting up properly in his seat. 

Mccree’s eyes turned to the windscreen, he screamed and pointed forward just as their truck ploughed into the base of a cliff. 

Gabriel awoke in a stupor. The HOV truck was on the ground, it’s entire front bonnet squished back so far the dashboard was now touching Gabriel’s legs. As he breathed he felt a terrible pain in his ribs. He took short gasps to decrease the agony. 

Gabriel felt something hitting against his leg repeatedly, He groaned in pain looking down. Mccree was trying to grab one of his shotguns from where they lay at his feet. It was trapped between Gabriel’s leg and the steering wheel.

Gabriel could only manage an angry groan as he lurched towards the boy to try and shove him off. The kid looked wreaked; his movements were weak and he had a serious looking head wound. 

Gabriel guessed he’d been launched forward in the crash; there was blood all over his hands and face. 

“Cabrón…” Mccree wheezed. 

“You’re going to hurt yourself more kid…” Gabriel struggled to move his arms, pulling the boy’s hands off his shotgun. Luckily he was even weaker than Gabriel was. 

The boy was still spitting at him in Spanish as Gabriel forced his door open and slipped out of the broken vehicle. He fell shakily on his feet and immediately collapsed into the sand. The pain in his chest was unbearable. 

He rolled over onto his back just as he heard the passenger door scrape against the bent metal of the truck as it opened, and the thump of a body hitting the sand on the opposite side of the truck. How long did he have before the kid walked over and tried to shoot him again? 

Gabriel struggled, using the truck for support as he pulled himself back to his feet. But he heard no further sounds of the boy getting ready to shoot him. Gabriel moved cautiously around to the back of the truck one gun in hand as he peeked around the corner. The kid was face down in the sand. 

“If you’re faking this you’ll be sorry...” Gabriel took two cautious steps, and watched for any twitches.

The boy didn’t move. With his guard still up Gabe crouched down beside the kid and rolled him onto his back. Mccree’s eyes were closed and his head wound was bleeding profusely. 

They were going to be out here for the night Gabriel already knew this. Now he had a choice to make. 

He pulled himself back to his feet and moved to the back of the truck to see what he had to work with. Some spare clothes, cloth covers, weapons, and a large carton of water still safe after the crash. “One less thing to worry about,” he muttered as he took some of the clothes and ripped them into strips of fabric. 

Gabriel attempted to set them up in the back of the truck as night began to set in. He dragged Mccree inside and used a little water to clean and dress his injuries. But as a precaution Gabriel tied his hands behind his back and searched him, just in case. The boy had very little possessions on him and he was clearly not equipped for the cold. Gabriel trusted his own gear enough to keep him warm so he put the spare clothing on Mccree and then looked through the items he had found on him. There wasn’t much, his hat, the revolver, a handful of crumpled money, and a strange mask. It was a long white skull with two nails forced into the forehead. Gabriel stared into its narrowed empty sockets and felt a bout of unsettlement rise up in his stomach. He picked the object up, turning it over. It was just a mask why did it bother him?

When the kid woke he saw Gabriel holding his prized position and started yelling at him again, struggling in his binds. 

Gabriel was able to gain vague notions out of some of his words- ‘mis madre’ in particular. 

“This?” He turned the mask around, the boy glared at him but nodded. 

“Ellas nombre mis madre, mujer de muerte… Ella grito, ¡muere muere muere!”

Gabe clawed his own face, kicking himself for not knowing the language. “Kid please speak English, I’m begging you. ¿Hablas inglés?”

The boy shrugged at him. “Don’t know much…” 

Gabriel huffed. “Okay start with the easy question. Do you have a name?” 

The kid nodded, he knew the phrase at least. “Jesse Mccree.” 

Gabriel raised an eyebrow; the name sounded suspiciously chosen to him.

“Por favour yo necesitas que…” Mccree pointed his foot at the mask in Gabe’s hands. “Por favour- uh, please?” 

With one final glance at the ghastly item he placed it back gently beside the boy, who quickly took it into his bound hands. 

“Mis… My, mother, that is my mother’s. My mother gave me my deadeye…” Mccree winked at Gabriel showing him his right eye, the eye that had been bleeding when Gabe grabbed him earlier.

Gabriel leaned forward with interest, “The trick you did today, with the gun…shooting down six people with one chamber. How did she teach you this?” 

Jesse only shrugged. 

Gabriel squinted at him, “you don’t understand or you don’t know how she taught you?” 

Jesse shook his head. 

“It’ll be cold,” Gabe hugged himself to visually demonstrate his words. “Try and sleep.” He made a gesture of lying down on his hands for sleep. 

Jesse nodded and struggled in his binds before eventually settling down in the farthest corner. Once he stopped moving Gabriel carefully tucked a cloth around him. Jesse yelled at first, thinking this was the beginning of some kind of torture. 

“To stop you from getting cold okay?” Gabriel mumbled before settling down away from the boy, letting him have the space he wanted. 

“Why have you helped?” Jesse snapped, curling up under the impromptu blanket.

Gabriel settled back in a resting position, his head leaning against the window. It wasn’t the comfiest but it would do. 

“You, and your friends are children…” Gabriel told him softly. “That’s why I have helped.”

Jesse stared at him, or perhaps he was glaring, Gabriel could barely tell in the dark. 

The exhaustion from the fight earlier, and the pain from his injuries overtook him, and Gabriel sunk into a deep sleep. He was somewhat sure he heard a coyote howling somewhere close by. 

Gabriel’s dreams were plagued by a figure cloaked in black and smoke. It moved towards him in wisps and reached out with claws as its fingers. Gabriel reeled back wanting to run but his feet wouldn’t move. He couldn’t tear his eyes off the figure as it loomed over him. He expected the being to slaughter him but its touch couldn’t have been gentler. Despite the claws it softly caressed his skin, traced the line of his collar, up his neck, touched his cheeks. Gabriel could see the silver claws glinting in the corner of his eye. 

The cloaked figure cupped his face in its hands, the dark void of its hood sunk down to eyelevel with Gabe and he found himself peering into the endless eyes of the long white mask he had taken from Jesse. It breathed smoke on his face and he heard his own voice saying his name. 

“Gabriel…Gabriel…Gabriel.” 

He woke up with a jolt. The morning sun was shining into the truck, his joints felt stiff from the sleep and as he tried to move he realised his hands were tied behind his back. 

“MCCREE!” Gabriel screamed, struggling until he snapped the weak tie. He looked around the truck tray. The weapons had been rummaged through, bullets were scattered everywhere and the extra clothes he had put on the boy were dumped unceremoniously beside him. The water was gone. 

“You little brat…” Gabriel grabbed his shotguns, adjusted his gear and jumped out of the truck ready to pursue. Even with the pain in his chest he should still be able to walk after Jesse, it’s not like he could have made it very far. 

Gabriel squinted at the horizon, and to his great surprise, there the boy was. Dragging the carton of water along behind him, coming back to the truck. He stopped a short distance away when he saw Gabriel, raising his hands up in surrender. 

“I am sorry…” Mccree called out. 

Gabriel smirked. “Takes a lot of courage to escape…a hell of a lot more to decide to come back…” He approached Mccree. The boy was guarded but didn’t watch him with as much terror and anger anymore.

“Look,” Gabriel put a hand on his shoulder, “I promise I’m going to do everything in my power to help…” 

He didn’t get to finish his promise before carriers were descending from over their heads. Gabriel saw the Overwatch logos plastered all across the crafts. 

Jesse screamed and ran towards the truck to hide. Gabriel tried to stop him but the kid was quick. 

As soon as the crafts landed Jack exited and sprinted towards the Blackwatch commander. 

“You oversaw the search?” Gabriel asked quizzically as Jack reached him and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. Probably actually crushing in the case of Gabriel’s injured ribs. 

“You idiot.” Jack kissed him gently, “Of course I did it’s you. There was no way I was going to leave you. God, I was afraid you were dead, I was so afraid that-”

Gabriel patted Jack’s back gently as the blonde voiced his worries. He was still in a moment of bliss. He was alive, with Jack, and everything was okay.

“Jack I’m sorry…” Gabriel murmured. “I’m sorry for everything, for our fighting…” 

“I’m sorry to Gabe.” 

Gabriel didn’t get a chance to say more before he heard screaming and yelling. Some other soldiers were in the process of arresting and enraged Mccree. The boy was putting up a fight that even the soldiers were having trouble with. 

Gabriel turned away from Jack briefly. “Let go of him. He’s with me.” 

One of the men grabbed Jesse’s arm, raising his Deadlock tattoo to the light. “He’s a scumbag.” 

“He’s with me.” Gabriel snarled. 

Jack put a hand on Gabriel’s arm. “I’m trusting you here…” 

The soldiers reluctantly stepped away from Jesse who after looking at Gabriel quickly scampered over to his side. 

“Gracias…Gracias.” He whispered. 

Gabriel patted the boy’s shoulder. “I have this under control. The boy is with me and I will take responsibility for him.” 

“Gabe…” Jack warned. 

The rest of his search team was clearly agitated by this. Gabriel didn’t care for the moment. Jesse deserved his second chance. 

\+ + +

Gabriel slid the papers onto Jack’s desk. The blond tore his eyes away from his work to look at them briefly, before he looked back in panic and suddenly snatched them up. 

“Adoption papers?” Jack spluttered.

“Yes…” Gabriel replied quietly. 

Jack slammed down his holo-pad. “Are you kidding me Gabriel, this is not for that little- brat in containment!” 

“Jesse.” Gabriel corrected, “this is his only chance Jack, I’ve got nothing for his case he’ll go to prison he’s only just turned seventeen Jack…” 

Jack sat back in his chair wearing a skeptical look on his face. “I joined the army at eighteen.” 

“And I did it at sixteen and it was the worse choice I ever made. He’s a kid, he deserves a chance, and this is the only chance I can give him. If we become his guardians he had diplomatic immunity. They can’t send him to prison.” 

“They won’t like you for it.” Jack murmured.

“I’m not expecting them to,” Gabe retorted, “but it will save him.” 

Jack huffed. 

Gabriel smirked, sitting down in the guest chair of Jack’s office. “You always said you wanted kids.” 

“That didn’t mean. ‘Gabriel I want you to find a scruffy little ex-gang member fresh out of crime.’ “ 

“He’s a good kid Jack, and you saw for yourself, he’s a bloody good shot. I can train him. He could be a good asset to Blackwatch. We’re only his guardians until he turns 18, long enough for him to keep out of a prison sentence and prove he can work better here with Overwatch.” 

Jack dragged his hands down his face and sighed, “Okay…But, he’s not going to call either of us dad.” 

“Speak for yourself.” 

“Don’t make me regret this Gabe.” Jack leaned over and signed the adoption papers.


End file.
